State pension: Rishi Sunak urged to reverse state pension age back to 60 | Personal Finance | Finance
State pension age was traditionally 60 for women and 65 for men, but changes occurred. Age equalisation meant there was parity between the sexes from November 2018 onwards – both retiring at 65.
Subsequent alterations means the state pension age now sits at 66.
Further changes are afoot, with the state pension age set to rise to 67 and then 68.
An independent consultation is currently examining the speed at which state pension age increases are implemented.
However, for some, the rise to state pension age is totally unacceptable.
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“The Government should not be able to move the state pension back when people have had a reasonable expectation of retiring at 60.”
The petition appears somewhat reminiscent of a campaign called ‘Back to 60’ which specifically focused on women affected by state pension age changes.
When the state pension was increased, 1950s-born women stated they did not receive ample notice about the changes.
Backto60 campaigned, and even took the matter to court, to revert the state pension age to 60.
They were unsuccessful in their case, however, and the campaign website has now “gone into hibernation”.
This is distinct from the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign, which is calling for compensation – but is understanding of state pension age changes.
Regarding the issue, the DWP said: “We support millions of people every year and our priority is ensuring they get the help and support to which they are entitled.
“The Government decided over 25 years ago that it was going to make the state pension age the same for men and women as a long-overdue move towards gender equality.
“Both the High Court and Court of Appeal have supported the actions of the DWP, under successive governments dating back to 1995, and the Supreme Court refused the claimants permission to appeal.”
The petition which focuses on the state pension age for men and women is relatively new.
As such, it has only garnered 30 signatures at the time of writing, falling well short of the 10,000 needed for a Government response.
All Parliament petitions run for a period of six months to allow engagement and signatures.
Express.co.uk contacted the DWP, but they declined to comment further at this stage.
